How to stat aging Black dragon?

[HoboKnight]

Heyya, guys,

In my game, I have an Ancient black dragon, who is slowly dying (end of lifespan). Her remaining years may range from 25 to 125 and I'd like this to reflect in her stats. As per her descriptions, she is suffering from several opened wounds and skin ulcers (her immune system slowly failing) and other maladies. I'd like to reflect this in her stats and I'm wondering what should I add to her? I could also go along "some stats degrade, while others increase. I was thinking of maybe giving her Diseased(I'd take Poisoned condition) status, while adding her 7 legendary saves - it's just an idea, not balanced, but an example of a path I'd like to take.

What would you suggest?

thanks

[Chugger]

Poisoned is pretty crippling. Is the party to fight her or is this a social encounter?

You've got a basically good idea. You could lower her hp pool, drop her AC a bit - but give her more legendaries due to advanced wisdom and accrued boons, maybe. Sounds good to me. Oh, her breath weapon may be a bit weaker, but maybe she's learned to cast a few spells (mirror image would be a hoot).

[HoboKnight]

Poisoned is pretty crippling. Is the party to fight her or is this a social encounter?

You've got a basically good idea. You could lower her hp pool, drop her AC a bit - but give her more legendaries due to advanced wisdom and accrued boons, maybe. Sounds good to me. Oh, her breath weapon may be a bit weaker, but maybe she's learned to cast a few spells (mirror image would be a hoot).
AMAZING IDEAS! That's all I have to say. :elan:

[Unoriginal]

Heyya, guys,

In my game, I have an Ancient black dragon, who is slowly dying (end of lifespan). Her remaining years may range from 25 to 125 and I'd like this to reflect in her stats. As per her descriptions, she is suffering from several opened wounds and skin ulcers (her immune system slowly failing) and other maladies. I'd like to reflect this in her stats and I'm wondering what should I add to her? I could also go along "some stats degrade, while others increase. I was thinking of maybe giving her Diseased(I'd take Poisoned condition) status, while adding her 7 legendary saves - it's just an idea, not balanced, but an example of a path I'd like to take.

What would you suggest?

thanks

If she's dying, then there should only be stat decrease.

Here is a few ideas:

-Diminished speed

-Lowered senses

-Can't take Reaction

-Lowered physical stats

-Less attacks


Making her constantly under the Poisoned condition to represent sickness is also a good idea. You can also look at the various diseases in the DMG and says she's infected with the one you find the most interesting.


That being said, 25 to 125 remaining years of life are still a lot for an Ancient Dragon. I would do that if the dragon had a few months to a couple years left.

[HoboKnight]

She's like an evil granny, 94 years old. She may croak next month or tyrranize the world for a next decade :D Evil ones are usually blessed with longevity.

[Magicspook]

I'd decrease the physical stats, but I'd rather strengthen the breath weapon. It's canonically the thing that marks an old dragon, and this one is among the oldest of dragons. Besides, the breath weapon is not a physical ability, rather an magical one.

[da newt]

Just to pile on, I'd decrease physical stats and improve mental stats, decrease hp, decrease AC, decrease mobility, decrease senses, increase tools/tricks - she's experienced ...

[IChosePoorly]

Aged dragon = wily dragon. Maybe total immunity to surprise? Maybe a continuous foresight spell while within her swamp? Ooh, maybe she can scry through swamp pools.

Less fun, because it's a passive ability, but maybe a few condition immunities. She can't be charmed or frightened because she's seen too much. Or, death is so close (from a draconic perspective) that she simply refuses to become exhausted; "I'll sleep when I'm dead!"

I like the idea that her breath weapon is now uniquely powerful, maybe even universal solvent-level. What if the party needs something that destructive for artifact removal, or to recover from an unfortunate sovereign glue incident? Maybe creatures killed by her breath weapon are SO VERY DEAD that they can't be spoken with or raised?

She's not as spry as she used to be, so change up her legendary actions as well. No wing or tail attacks, but perhaps her lair actions can be used as legendaries? If you give her spells, maybe her reactions can only be used for spells.

NB: I make absolutely no claims that any of these are balanced. But they feel like they might be fun!

[Aussiehams]

Not to be a fly in the ointment, but is there any in cannon fluff to say that dragons decline before death?
I like the idea, and would go the lower hp/ac and more powerful breath weapon route, but I can't remember seeing this anywhere official before.

[Magicspook]

Not to be a fly in the ointment, but is there any in cannon fluff to say that dragons decline before death?
I like the idea, and would go the lower hp/ac and more powerful breath weapon route, but I can't remember seeing this anywhere official before.

Yes, there is. In the original post of this thread, the OP said that the dragon's health was failing. And since the OP is the only person in charge of his world's canon... I'll let you figure out the rest.

[tomjon]

You could always go the other way. Make her mind start to fade. With it she no longer take notice that her body is also failing so she pushes past what a normal dragon can do. Unbound by rational limits she would be a true terror in combat. With a faded mind she would make irrational decisions like deciding any building that has red is in league with her archenemy.

In short an unstable huge killing machine that will go until put down. A true quest for only the strongest of heroes.